Lanphier starts with 24-0 run in rout of Normal West at Pekin tournament

Thursday

Dec 26, 2013 at 10:45 AMDec 26, 2013 at 10:57 PM

By Ryan MahanStaff Writer

PEKIN — It wasn’t a flawless performance Thursday for Lanphier High School’s boys basketball team; few games at 10:30 in the morning after an extended holiday break are.

But that is one advantage to being the No. 1 seed in a tournament. It usually buys a team time to get into rhythm.

Lanphier got out to a 24-0 lead in the first quarter en route to a 66-40 win over Normal West (0-8) in the first round of the Pekin Holiday Tournament. The Lions (9-0) advance to play Peoria Richwoods today at 9 a.m.

“We wanted to come in here and focus,” Lanphier coach Blake Turner said. “We didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves and look at future matchups. When you’re playing a team that hasn’t won a game, they’re hungry to get one so we knew we were going to get their best shot.”

Larry Austin led Lanphier with 24 points and had eight rebounds. He added three fast-break dunks to the delight of the Lanphier crowd.

Despite all the positives to take from the win, there remain a few avenues of concern for Turner: West scored 16 points in the second quarter after getting just two in the first period; Lanphier shot just 2-for-18 from behind the 3-point line; and the Lions were whistled for 16 fouls against a winless team that was never in the game.

“We jump out on people and have a tendency to let people back in the game,” Turner said. “We need to stop doing that. We have to put people away. I think guys grow a little complacent when the lead grows.”

Defending title

The Lions are the reigning Pekin Holiday Tournament champions. A year ago, Lanphier came in unseeded and knocked off three of the top four seeds, including a 76-60 over Pekin in the title.

Now the top seed at Pekin, Turner knows a repeat letdown could have disastrous consequences.

“We know we’re going to catch that team that was us last year,” Turner said. “We’ve got to come in like we haven’t won anything and keep that same hunger.”

A year ago, Austin was named tournament MVP and Xavier Bishop was part of the all-tournament team for Lanphier. Pekin served as Bishop’s coming-out party last year.

But the first game for the Lions this year was a bit different. Bishop scored just eight points on 3-for-16 shooting, including an 0-for-10 mark from beyond the 3-point arc.

With Bishop struggling, Lanphier center Scottie Wallace stepped up, scoring 10 points, grabbing 11 boards — including seven on the offensive glass — and blocking two shots. All of his points came in the first half.

“If somebody is having an off game, we have other players there to pick them up and keep them going,” Wallace said. “They’ll come back even harder the next play.”

Normal West coach Brian Cupples knew his team was overmatched from the jump.

“They have a goal — they want to win a state championship — and when you run into a team like that at 10:30 in the morning, you better be ready to play,” Cupples said.

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